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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26897569">three years.</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/dylaesthetics/pseuds/dylaesthetics'>dylaesthetics</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Teen Wolf (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Canon Divergence, Cuddling, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Kissing, Memories, One Shot, Post-Series, Sharing a Bed, Stydia, University, kira's return, lydia's birthday</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 22:35:44</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,698</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26897569</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/dylaesthetics/pseuds/dylaesthetics</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“I know the word.” she realised, moving a little away to be able to connect their eyes.  “Soulmate.”<br/>“Do you believe in that?” Stiles sounded sincere, yet his voice gave away a hint of uncertainty.<br/>Lydia nodded, smile tugging at her cheeks. “I believe in you being mine.”<br/>“Then I believe in it, too.” he admitted, closing the distance between their lips once again, like a promise. </p><p>_</p><p>OR Stiles visits Lydia in her university dorms on the night Kira returns from the capture of the skinwalkers.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Lydia Martin/Stiles Stilinski</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>76</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>three years.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Hey!” Lydia enunciated the <em>y</em>, balancing her chin on her palms as she stared at the pixelated version of herself on her laptop. The rain was pouring hard against her windows as the smell of burnt toast travelled from her neighbour’s flat<em>. </em> “Can you hear me?”</p><p>Having video calls that stretched out well into the night had become a normal day-to-day activity for Lydia and Stiles when they weren’t too occupied with college assignments and their social lives outside class. Between terms, either would return to Beacon Hills and spend day after day together, occasionally seeing old friends, while the rest of the pack were away - Scott continuing his search for werewolves across the continent and Malia trying to stop herself from eating her girlfriend during the full moon in France. Even though they met Scott and Malia rarely, the pack still remained in close touch for the rest of the time.</p><p>She heard a door bang shut and Stiles swear from the other side of the call. “In a moment!”</p><p>Lydia furrowed her eyebrows suspiciously. “Your camera isn’t on.”</p><p>“Yeah, I know.” he was jogging, pop blasting in the background. “Give me a second, for the love of God.”</p><p>“Where are you? I hear music.”</p><p>“Just the neighbours.” Stiles seemed to be catching his breath, having stopped walking.</p><p>Lydia rolled her eyes at the farther wall, through which she could hear what couldn’t be anything other than Billboard top 200. “Same here. I can barely hear you.”</p><p>Stiles didn’t respond but as soon as Lydia opened her mouth to question him more, she heard a knock on her room’s door.</p><p>“Hang on.” Lydia removed her earbuds and approached the door with a poster of the periodic table hiding its red paint. She pushed it open, glancing back and hoping to see Stiles’ face finally pop up on the screen. When nothing happened, she swung around, hearing water dripping on the ground, undoubtedly forming a puddle. She looked at the mess and then up, meeting their eyes. Her jaw dropped.</p><p>“Happy birthday,” Stiles said simply, pulling the locks of his wet hair away from his forehead.</p><p>Lydia’s frown transformed into a grin the longer she stared at Stiles, soaking wet Stiles with a tiny suitcase he held in his arm. “You’re an idiot.” she pushed herself forward, wrapping him in an embrace, ignoring the rain dampening her clothes and her head against his shoulder ruining her makeup. Stiles dropped his luggage and returned the hug, kissing Lydia’s hair.</p><p>As soon as they pulled away, Lydia invited Stiles into her overwhelmingly chaotic room that’s floor and desk held piles of her unfinished assignments. In the farthest corner, an unmade bed with pink sheets and some faded math posters half-fallen off her walls completed the messy view. Lydia wished Stiles had given her at least a little heads up.</p><p>“An idiot who just sat through a flight next to a dude who wouldn’t stop showing me pictures of his children and waited for a taxi in the rain.” Stiles was rummaging through his suitcase now, throwing unnecessary items on the ground. “I also brought your favourite. So treat me nicely.” Stiles tossed a bag of sweets in Lydia’s direction, which she caught instinctively.</p><p>“Alright, a little less idiotic then.” she bit into one and placed the bag on her desk, turning back around to have a better look at Stiles, who stood in the middle of her room, moistening her carper. “What are you doing here?”</p><p>“It’s your birthday.” he pulled his brows together in a scowl. “And Friday. And I knew you were gonna be studying for your final instead of celebrating. So, naturally, I wanted to stop you.”</p><p>Lydia glanced at the pile of papers she’d been surveying before the call. “It <em> is </em>an important final..”</p><p>“It’s your twenty-first birthday, too.” Stiles interrupted her, approaching her desk to steal one of the sweets. “You turn twenty one only once.”</p><p>“Same goes for literally every other birthday.” she reminded him with a grin spread across her face but Stiles simply stuck out his tongue.</p><p>“You better change,” Lydia ordered, noticing the rain from his clothes form another puddle near some of the papers on her floor. He nodded, swallowing the chocolate down loudly.</p><p>Despite having seen Stiles naked enough times, she turned around to give him some privacy and began to clean up her desk. By the time she’d shut her laptop, she felt two strong arms embrace her from behind. Muscles he’d grown in his FBI training tensed around her chest and he was in clothes that no longer bore the unpleasant Massachusetts weather.</p><p>“Missed you,” he whispered into her ear after brushing his lips against her jawline, holding her firmly.</p><p>“And I missed you.” she shut her eyes, easing into his touch.  “Obviously.” </p><p>He kissed her skin once again before letting go and flumping on her bedsheets, adding to the chaos. “So, what do you want to do?”</p><p>Lydia liked watching Stiles consider himself at home in her room for the term. In the little moments they shared together, he’d still managed to make her place seem safer. Like no one was chasing after them here. Like no one was trying to kill them, unlike back in California. After leaving their hometown, both of them sought normalcy, even with their past sneaking up on them unexpectedly, like when Scott informed them about Monroe hunting him once again or Malia mentioned her nightmares about her mum. </p><p>“Honestly? Nothing.” Stiles curled his lip in annoyance. </p><p>She enjoyed doing absolutely nothing with him. After years of hunting creatures, whose teeth pinched their skin, and being hunted in return, Lydia preferred silence and comfort.</p><p>“Fine.” However, she was still a sucker for pleasing Stiles. After all, he <em>had </em>come all this way to see her. “We can watch that movie you mentioned the other day. Or just talk. Since we were actually meant to until your dumbass showed up.”</p><p>“Hey, I said treat me nicely!” Stiles protested, pretending to be hurt and glancing away from her all up until Lydia stormed to her bed, hopping on top of him and pressing him down to her mattress. She beamed down at him, then startled him with a hard kiss on the mouth.</p><p>They kissed for a moment, enjoying the familiarity of each other’s lips while having zero control over their fingers that explored one another’s bodies. Their lips shuddered, mouths opening wide between kiss after kiss, hungry for more. She spotted his freckles through her eyelashes in the dim orange light coming from her desk lamp, like little dots of sun. </p><p>“That nicely enough?” Lydia breathed out, pulling away from Stiles’ face, still on top of him. He revealed his irises slowly and disappointingly, his beam turning into a smug. </p><p>“Shut up.” his lips met hers again, their hearts pounding in their chests and stomachs twisting in a knot.</p><p>Lydia had never found herself kissing anyone so naturally before Stiles. With her previous partners, kissing them was only a <em> thing </em>she felt obliged to do or out of pretence. Never had she imagined forming an emotional bond with someone she’d kiss. Never had she imagined being so in love with someone, she couldn’t resist herself from kissing them.</p><p>Lydia’s phone rang but they ignored it, deepening their kiss to the point where all they knew was one another. She could smell Stiles’ aftershave and his shampoo, his hair was brushing against her forehead like a feather. Her hands slipped under the shirt he’d put on only a moment ago and they raced over his skin, stopping at his chest.</p><p>It wasn’t until Stiles’ phone rang, too, that they finally broke apart.</p><p>“It’s Scott,” Stiles grunted after getting up and taking his phone out of his damp coat’s pocket. “Think he called you, too.” </p><p>“Call him.” Lydia worried, sitting up quickly and blowing her strawberry blonde locks out of her face. </p><p>Stiles returned to the bed, taking a seat next to Lydia and putting the call on speaker. It rang twice before Scott picked up, breathing heavily into his speaker.</p><p>“She’s back!” Scott yelled, startling the couple. “Kira’s back! She... The skinwalkers let her... Kira’s back.” his voice turned tiny.</p><p>Lydia and Stiles immediately met each other’s gaze, joy glistening in their eyes as their smiles spread widely across their cheeks. Stiles turned back to his phone, asking more questions while Lydia shifted her attention to a picture on the board above her bed. A picture of Malia, Kira and her on their first week of senior year in the backseat of Stiles’ Jeep, smiles warming up the cool hues of the night.</p><p>Three years. Three painfully long years without the usual amount of cheerfulness that filled the room each time Kira spoke, without the usual level of awkwardness that was so distinctly Kira and everyone adored. Three years without one of their best friends - no longer.</p><p>There hadn’t been a day on which Kira hadn’t crossed Lydia’s mind, a second she hadn’t missed her beside her. When the skinwalkers took her, Scott and Lydia couldn’t get used to the loss of her presence for so long, the time stopped making sense.</p><p><em> “And what do they call you?” </em>Lydia recalled the first time she’d met her when Kira sneaked up to their table during lunch to intervene with their discussion.</p><p><em> “Kira.” </em>Scott had remembered from an earlier introduction during class. And because he’d paid attention, Kira had quickly found her place within their pack.</p><p>“When can you guys get here?” Scott asked anxiously and Lydia sensed his jittering even through the phone. </p><p>“Tomorrow,” she stated, neglecting Stiles’ questioning gaze on her face. “I’ll book the flights now.” she arose quickly, stepping on some paper sheets on her way to the desk, where she feverishly opened her laptop and started searching for the next flight to California. Her fingers rushed across the keys as she leaned over the screen.</p><p>“Lydia, what about-“</p><p>“You asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday. <em> This </em> is it.” Lydia interrupted Stiles without a second guess, speaking flatly. “Please.” she pleaded more softly, glancing over her shoulder at him, who stared back with tiny circles of light reflecting in his eyes. He appeared wonderstruck, sitting so still he could be made out of stone, with a phone situated between his thighs.</p><p>“Of course.” he nodded barely noticeably. “I was just going to ask about your final on Tuesday.”</p><p>In these moments of utter joy, Lydia <em>had </em>forgotten about her upcoming week, so busy she’d even asked Stiles to limit their usual four-hour calls to one. However, none of it was more important than the return of Kira.</p><p>“We’ll make it back in time,” Lydia promised, although biting on her fingernails nervously. More confidently, she let her hand fall to her side and blinked her worries away. “Scott, we’ll see you tomorrow.”</p><p>“See you both.” Scott ended the call before Stiles could say his goodbyes.</p><p>By the time the face with the sun-kissed skin emerged beside Lydia, she clicked on <em>confirm </em>to book the earliest flight next morning. No time to waste. She had waited long enough.</p><p>So had Stiles, studying her every move from her left. “You’re doing it again.”</p><p>Lydia tilted her head stiffly, sensing her boyfriend’s agitation from the way he was tapping his fingers. “Stiles, I am <em> not </em>putting others before myself.”</p><p>“Yes, you are.” he protested, tapping more hastily against the hard desk. “You’ll never make it back on time.”</p><p>“Perhaps the return of one of my best friends who I haven’t seen in years holds more importance to me than a stupid final.” Lydia’s body tensed more by the second.</p><p>She needed to see Kira. She needed to remember how their shoulders brushing in the backseat of the car felt like. She needed her friend back. As soon as possible. </p><p>“You just said the final was important.” Stiles sighed, giving a final tap. “We could just go next weekend. I don’t have to return until the week after anyway.”</p><p>“No.” Stiles’ suggestion upset Lydia more. Her eyes flooded with salty liquid, and the tears were on the verge of bursting out. “I <em> can’t </em>wait now that I know there’s no more need for waiting.”</p><p>Lydia turned off the screen and straightened her back, waiting on the satisfactory crack, which never came. Her muscles ached with anxiety and head buzzed with excitement. She had never felt so relieved yet nervous at the same time.</p><p>Stiles stood still by Lydia’s desk, staring at the drops moistening her room’s window hypnotically while Lydia put some of her belongings into Stiles’ suitcase and changed into her nightgown, which revealed some of her scars, scattered around her skin from years of fighting. It wasn’t until Lydia rested her head on his shoulder that Stiles actually moved, tilting his head so it clashed with hers.</p><p>“Come on,” Lydia muttered invitingly, moving away to take his hand and lead him to bed. “We have a six-hour flight to prepare for.”</p><p>He looked unfit to respond, forgetting to blink with his gaze focused on a raindrop tumbling down the glass until eventually colliding with others. And his hand did not return the squeeze.</p><p>“Do you think she’s the same as we remember her?” he spoke suddenly, in a tone so calm Lydia struggled to place it in any of her memories of him. Almost <em>serene</em>.</p><p>“No, I would be surprised if she was.” Lydia shook her head, letting go of his hand. “Would you be if you were ever taken away from everything and everyone you loved by a bunch of monstrous creatures?”</p><p>Only a second later did she realise to have hit very close to home. Stiles tensed up visibly, dashing towards Lydia’s bed yet settling down lightly. Lydia sat down on the very edge, too, carving her nails into the mattress.</p><p>“The hunt <em> did </em>change me.” Stiles turned to connect their eyes, both pairs glistening. “Emotionally, I haven’t been the same since.”</p><p>“How?” Lydia’s voice turned small.</p><p>Stiles moved his legs up and Lydia followed his example, shuffling in her seat. He opened and shut his mouth many times, glancing away, until he finally talked.</p><p>“You know when back in Beacon Hills you awoke every morning, <em> knowing </em>that when you walk into your kitchen, you’ll see your family preparing breakfast? Then got to school and <em>knew </em>your friends were by the lockers, waiting to greet you. The sight of the one person you love most smiling at you from across the hall.” Lydia and Stiles exchanged brief smiles. “The hunt made me realise that with a snap of fingers, all that can be gone. Simply... <em> Erased</em>. And it’s a nasty feeling, waking up in a cold apartment without the smell of my dad’s black coffee coming from downstairs. Walking into college without a single locker insight and a friend I’ve known since <em>birth </em>hugging me hello. Without you, Lydia, smiling back.”</p><p>Lydia hadn’t realised when she’d taken Stiles’ hand again but she was caressing it lightly, trying to memorize his touch. “We’re all still there. Just farther away,” she assured him.</p><p>“In the hunt, I thought I’d never see any of you again.” Stiles’ voice was breaking more with every tear falling from his eyelashes. “But then you found me, Lyds. You found my family and you found what I’d left behind and you found me in a place no one had ever returned from. And then you pulled me out.” he gestured with his free hand. “I don’t think I’ve ever even thanked you for that.”</p><p>“You don’t have to.” Lydia quoted Stiles from the night of his return, smiling nostalgically. “Not that I’ll ever admit to that but I was <em> miserable </em>without you around.”</p><p>Stiles moved his hand to Lydia’s cheek and brushed his thumb against it softly, so softly it put her stiffened muscles to ease. As their contact soothed her worries, Lydia lied down on her back and Stiles followed her, cuddling up to her side. Never breaking contact with her skin. With one hand intertwined and the other brushing against each other’s faces, Lydia leaned in to kiss Stiles briefly, but emotionally. She brought every bit of her love for him in those couple of seconds of breathing in sync and relishing in the taste that was so distinguishably each other.</p><p>“Just a couple more months and you’ll be tired of me constantly invading your home.” Stiles declared when they pulled away.</p><p>Lydia rolled her eyes at him. “You’re so stupid.” laughing, she disconnected their hands to poke his side, which made him let out a chuckle. “How could I ever get tired of you?”</p><p>“I <em> am </em>quite annoying.” he insisted.</p><p>Stiles received another poke in the gut for that. “You’re annoying when you say you’re annoying.”</p><p>“<em>You’re </em>annoying when you say that I’m annoying for saying I’m annoying.” he teased her, rolling on top of her and holding her wrists down behind her head to avoid another poke. Lydia laughed more, with eyes shut and joy livening up her body for the first time since Christmas break when she’d seen him.</p><p>“I despise you-” Lydia started, eyes shifting from Stiles’ irises to his lips in anticipation. But he didn’t kiss her yet.</p><p>“No, you don’t.” he shook his head with a grin spread across his face, a lock of his hair glueing to his forehead.</p><p>“-<em> and </em> I love you.” Lydia breathed out before Stiles could interrupt her again. He slowly let go of her wrists, stretching out Lydia’s arms while moving both his hands up to entangle their fingers. His eyes glowed even in the dark-lit room and his mouth fell open slightly. Lydia loved seeing the same reaction every time she’d say it. Like back in Stiles’ room after the defeat of the wild hunt, when she’d finally let the words fall upon her mouth and kissed him the second time that night. He still looked at her the same. He looked at her the way he had even before they were in each other’s lives. The same way he had at their sophomore year dance and on the nasty locker room floor, and with a red string wrapped around their fingers, and from the driver’s seat before the ghost riders erased him. He looked at her like he had while Lydia was giving their graduation speech, on their first Christmas and Valentine's day together and when, in the middle of the night, Lydia asked him to move in with her after his final year of college.</p><p>He leaned down to kiss her then, as he had on their first real date at Lydia’s lake house, dancing to sounds of chirping birds and quacking frogs, like he did when she’d told him she couldn’t imagine a future, whether near or distant, without him in it. And then he leaned away, flustered, <em> still </em>flustered after years of being together. </p><p>“That’s better,” Stiles admitted, no longer offended, planting a final kiss on her nose.</p><p>“Hey.” Lydia tried to poke him again but he was too quick to capture her hands this time.</p><p>“Alright, fine.” he sighed out, rolling his eyes. “I despise you, too.”</p><p>Stiles let go of her, moving to Lydia’s side with arms crossed behind his head. “Not what I expected but thanks.” Lydia teased, yet appreciated the warmth radiating from his body to hers.</p><p>“Go to sleep now.” she reminded him, pretending to yawn. “We need to leave for our flight in 8 hours.”</p><p>So they fell asleep with bodies entangled, listening to the raindrops racing down the window and the now distant sounds of music from the neighbour’s flat and feeling a fair amount of serenity.</p><hr/><p>Truth is, Lydia and Stiles had never been the couple to mess around in public. They couldn’t even remember a time they’d kissed around their friends. Lydia sometimes assumed that they’d been enough of a couple with their bickering on and about even before they started dating that nobody could notice the difference. Which is probably the reason why it took two nights and a bottle of vodka shared between the couple until Kira found out about them.</p><p>“I hate that we can’t get drunk.” Scott groaned, watching Stiles dance around the McCall household’s living room with his mum’s recent replacement for his travelling son - a three-legged rescue terrier, who Melissa had purposely named Scott Junior. Meanwhile he, Kira and Lydia occupied the sofa not too far away from the drunk boy, clutching glasses of either pure vodka or juice.</p><p>“At least you never have to worry about a hangover,” Lydia growled, acknowledging the fact that she’ll have to deal with Stiles’ during their early flight tomorrow. He tended to get more grumpy and irritable than usual when hungover.</p><p>Lydia didn’t want to leave Beacon Hills yet. After a day and a half spent hugging, talking to and laughing with Kira, she couldn’t say goodbye yet.</p><p>“What time should I drive you guys to the airport, then?” Scott asked suddenly, sipping from his glass while holding Kira’s hand with his free one.</p><p>“You’re flying together?” Kira shuffled in her seat, shifting her gaze between the pair.</p><p>“Yeah, Stiles is staying over at my place until next week.” Lydia returned to studying her boyfriend, who was now rolling around the carpet with the barking dog in his arms and barking back at him.</p><p>“I just missed Lydia too much,” he stated between sloppy kisses from the dog. Lydia made a mental note not to kiss <em>him </em>until he showered. “Did you guys know that Lydia is my favourite person and I love her more than anything? Except for Scott Jr, maybe.”</p><p>“That’s a dog, Stiles, not a person.” Scott declared while Lydia threw her head back laughing. She failed to notice the disbelief spreading across Kira’s face at first.</p><p>“He’s had too much to drink,” Lydia noted, watching Kira’s eyes widen as she continued switching between watching her and Stiles.</p><p>“Not the first time he talks about Lydia when drunk.” Scott pursed his lips, looking over at his girlfriend, whose face was getting paler by the second. “One time in sophomore year, he told me he loves girls by giving me the exact description of Lydia.”</p><p>She didn't know that. Stiles and she rarely mentioned their past before entering one another's life even after she'd grown past her feeling of guilt and Stiles - his misery from when Lydia had ignored him for years.</p><p>“Hey, shut up, you moron! She didn’t have to know that.” Stiles had stood up now, walking towards the couch with Scott Jr, where he let him go and the four of them watched the dog limp away into the kitchen.</p><p>Stiles then flumped beside Lydia, resting his hand on her thigh and squeezing it lightly. Lydia reckoned he wouldn't be so touchy around their friends in a sober state.</p><p>“Lydia, can I talk to you?” Kira squeaked out, disconnecting her hand from Scott’s and rising up so quickly, she nearly lost her balance and knocked Scott’s cup out of his hand.</p><p>Stiles grunted as Lydia stood up hesitantly, following Kira, who sprinted into the hallway questioningly. </p><p>The second they seemed to be out of at least Stiles’ hearing range, Kira turned to Lydia hastily, shouting at her in a whisper. “What just happened?”</p><p>Lydia rubbed her chin perplexedly. “What do you mean?”</p><p>“Stiles?” Kira carried on with her speaking manner. “His hand on your thigh? Saying he loves you?”</p><p>“I sure hope he does since we’ve been together for about three years now.”</p><p>Silence. Well, except for the murmurs between Scott and Stiles from the other room and the weatherman sharing tomorrow's forecast on TV. </p><p>“Did you care to, um, enlighten me at some point?” Kira whispered even more aggressively, panic creeping into her gaze on Lydia, who stood nonchalantly, studying her bitten fingernails from the night before.</p><p>“I thought we were obvious.”</p><p>“Not to me.” Kira violently shook her head. “You treated each other pretty much the same as you did before up until now.”</p><p>Heat rose up to Lydia’s cheeks, remembering their younger selves, how flustered they were around each other and how they hid their feelings behind jokes and sarcastic remarks. How they saved each other's lives and never spoke of it the next day, too afraid of accidental confessions. They weren't too different physically now, except they could now kiss whenever they wanted to, among <em> other </em>things. </p><p>“So you did it. You told him.” Kira grew a beam, referencing their last conversation before she was taken by the skinwalkers. One about telling Stiles how she felt before Kira would return. </p><p>“He kind of said it first.” Lydia then explained everything. How Stiles was erased, how they'd tried to find him for months until finally bringing him back through a portal created by their memories of him. How Lydia had found him close to death in the locker room, eliminated the ghost rider and finally said <em>it </em>back. How easily they fell together after, making up for the time lost every single day.</p><p>Kira nodded occasionally throughout the story, jaw dropping and smile forming at the corner of her lips at the right moments. By the time Lydia was finished, she was aware of Scott having listened in, as he'd momentarily stayed quiet while Stiles rambled about the dog’s fur stuck to his brand new shirt.</p><p>“I always knew you'd end up together, from the first time I saw you.” Kira’s smug was uncontrollable as she leaned against the railings of the stairs. “It's like you complete one another.”</p><p>Lydia nodded in response, lost in thoughts about a conversation from what felt like a lifetime ago. </p><p></p><blockquote>
  <p>
    <em> At around four in the morning, Lydia and Stiles still lied awake, bare bodies wrapped around one another’s as Lydia drew circles on Stiles’ arm that held her waist securely.  </em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em> “I don't think saying ‘I love you’ is enough to describe how I feel about you.” Stiles spoke suddenly in a voice hoarse, likely from dancing out in the crisp early spring air outside Lydia’s lake house. </em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em> “You don't have to say anything.” she reminded him, kissing his skin where she'd just circled it with her fingers. Then above there. Another on his shoulder. His neck, which was already coated in red marks. His jawline. His chin. Now that Lydia had him, she could not stop kissing him. </em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em> Before reaching for his mouth, she hesitated. In the moonlit bedroom, now face to face, she could spot the rawness of his lips from having been kissed enough times tonight to have lost count. Lydia liked knowing she'd done that to him.  </em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em> “I know the word.” she realised, moving a little away to be able to connect their eyes.  “Soulmate.” </em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em> “Do you believe in that?” Stiles sounded sincere, yet his voice gave away a hint of uncertainty. 2 </em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em> Lydia nodded, smile tugging at her cheeks. “I believe in you being mine.” </em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em> “Then I believe in it, too.” he admitted, closing the distance between their lips once again, like a promise.  </em>
  </p>
</blockquote><p>By the time Lydia and Kira returned to the living room, Scott had attempted to sober Stiles up by making him chug water, one glass after another.</p><p>Lydia slipped between the two, cuddling up to Stiles like a blanket; forgetting to have broken their unwritten rule of being close around others.</p><p>Finished chugging the water, Stiles leaned over to place the glass on the table carefully before returning the embrace.</p><p>They held each other silently, staring at the TV yet barely paying attention to the movie playing on the channel. They breathed in sync and Stiles’ fingers circled her skin where he could reach her, reminding her of their first proper night together at her lake house. </p><p>And he was thrown back to the night, too. “I still feel like you don't understand the extent of how I feel about you, Lydia,” he whispered into her ear, holding his arm around her fixedly. </p><p>Lydia chuckled, looking up to the owner of the golden irises she found her home within. “Trust me, I understand.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>hope you guys enjoyed this piece, that is completely different from any stydia one shot i've written so far. it was quite interesting writing about them in an already established relationship. should i write more of these? let me know what you think in the comments!</p><p>- dylan, @piinofs on twitter</p></blockquote></div></div>
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